JM: I cannot agree with A. Perlstein that "Nabokov was a
passionate Janeite," that he'd been ironical in his letter to Wilson or in his
depreciative comments (in "Verses and Versions") on women translators and poets.
He changed his mind and expressed his admiration for Jane Austen, without being
totally enthranced by her (no time to check in LEL, but I remember that he
described her style as derived from "needle-work precision" or something of that
kind). In "Ada", though, we find an appreciative remark: ‘I
can add,’ said the girl...that my mother was even crazier than her sister...Dr
Krolik, our local naturalist, to whom you, Van, have referred, as Jane Austen
might have phrased it, for the sake of rapid narrative information (you recall
Brown, don’t you, Smith?), has determined the example I brought back from
Sacramento..."
Don B. Johnson: “Peterson’s grouse” is a reference to
the late Roger Tory Peterson, the author of the long-time standard guide
to North American Birds. There is no "Peterson’s Grouse," however. Alan P.
Peterson’s book is long post-VN. Long ago,I published an article
entitled, I vaguely recall, “The Birds in Nabokov’s Ada” in an obscure
Festshrift for Dean S. Worth.
JM: Thanks, Don. Perhaps the "obscure Festshrift" could be
digitally resuscitated for the benefit of us,
late-comers?
Jim Twiggs: I wish to thank Sandy Klein for all the
interesting items he contributes to the List on a regular basis...Thanks as well
to Jansy Mello ...Finally, Susan and Stephen deserve our deepest appreciation
for the time and hard work they put into the List each and every day, including
Christmas.
JM: My heartfelt thanks to Jim Twiggs for his constant
encouragement and the kind words he now expressed. I join him in thanking
Sandy Klein for all the riches he forwards to us and, in particular, to our
laborious and patient EDs, SES and Stephen and, formerly, Don B.
Johnson. I feel very priviledged to be able to share all the joys, queries,
information all of you have to
offer.
A poem by Octavio Paz came to my attention today, and I was reminded of
John Shade's passage from despair towards a "faint hope." after he
recognized "a web of sense and plexed artistry." Despair, as in Speak,
Memory's "The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common
sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two
eternities of darkness. Although the two are identical twins, man, as a rule,
views the prenatal abyss with more calm than the one he is headed for (at some
forty-five hundred heartbeats an hour)." we find in PF (lines
122/24): "Outstare the stars. Infinite
foretime and/Infinite aftertime: above your head/They close like giant wings,
and you are dead."until, in lines 800/834, he concludes that,
perhaps, there are unknown forces "Playing a game of worlds.../...Making ornaments/ Of
accidents and possibilities."
Here it is:
In the original, Hermandad. (Homenaje a Claudio Ptolomeo)
"Soy hombre: duro poco
y es enorme la noche.
Pero miro hacia
arriba:
las estrellas escriben.
Sin entender comprendo:
también soy
escritura
y en este mismo instante
alguien me
deletrea."
In a translation (The Collected Poems 1957-1987; Carcanet Press,
Manchester, 1988. Brotherhood )
"I am a man: little do I last
and the night is enormous.
But
I look up:
the stars write.
Unknowing I understand:
I too am
written,
and at this very moment
someone spells me out.
"
...................................
* ...Nabokov writing to his friend Edmund Wilson,
"I dislike Jane, and am prejudiced, in fact, against all women writers. They are
in another class. Could never see anything in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE" ...I take
Nabokov's comment to Wilson about Austen as a very sophisticated joke, meaning
precisely the opposite of what you claim...we have Nabokov creating a very
elegant little Chinese Box of nested veiled allusions, all based on the theme of
overtly stated dislike betrayed by unconscious revelation of unconscious
attraction...Nabokov was clearly a writer who, even in his nonfiction, was very
concerned with achieving subtle ironic effects--and that is most of all why I
believed he was a passionate Janeite, because I believe his deep study of
Austen's writing only enhanced that quality in his own, and Austen was indeed a
_great_ teacher for him....Arnie Perlstein